Credit: AP photo

Colleen Cook, 26, holds a sign as hundreds of people are facing off in Charlottesville, Va., ahead of a white nationalist rally planned in the Virginia city's downtown, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Cook, a teacher who attended UVA, said she sent her black son out of town for the weekend. "This isn't how he should have to grow up," she said. (AP Photo/Sarah Rankin)

Credit: AP photo

A counter demonstrator uses a lighted spray can against a white nationalist demonstrator at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and police dressed in riot gear ordered people to disperse after chaotic violent clashes between white nationalists and counter protestors. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Credit: AP photo

Credit: AP photo

An white nationalist demonstrator is pushed out of the park by police at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and police dressed in riot gear ordered people to disperse after chaotic violent clashes between white nationalists and counter protestors. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Credit: AP photo

A counter demonstrator is splashed with water after he was hit by pepper spray from an white nationalist demonstrator after he threw a water bottle at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and police dressed in riot gear ordered people to disperse after chaotic violent clashes between white nationalists and counter protestors. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Credit: AP photo

Credit: AP photo

A counter demonstrator throws a water bottle at an white nationalist demonstrator at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and police dressed in riot gear ordered people to disperse after chaotic violent clashes between white nationalists and counter protestors. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Credit: AP photo

A white nationalist demonstrator with a helmet and shield walks into Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Hundreds of people chanted, threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays on each other Saturday after violence erupted at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. At least one person was arrested. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Credit: AP photo

White nationalist demonstrators use shields as they clash with counter demonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Hundreds of people chanted, threw punches, hurled water bottles and unleashed chemical sprays on each other Saturday after violence erupted at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. At least one person was arrested. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Credit: Boston Herald photo

A man and a woman are treated by medical volunteers moments after a car plowed through a group of counter-protestors on Saturday at Historic Downtown Mall in Charlottesville Virginia . Herald photo by Jeff Porter

Credit: Boston Herald photo

A man and a woman are treated by medical volunteers moments after a car plowed through a group of counter-protestors on Saturday at Historic Downtown Mall in Charlottesville Virginia . Herald photo by Jeff Porter

Credit: Boston Herald photo

A man is treated by medical volunteers moments after a car plowed through a group of counter-protestors on Saturday at Historic Downtown Mall in Charlottesville Virginia . Herald photo by Jeff Porter

Credit: Boston Herald photo

Medical crews work at the scene where a car plowed through a group of counter protestors in Charlottesville's Historic Downtown Mall. Herald photo by Jeff Porter

Credit: Boston Herald photo

Volunteer medical teams give assistance to counter-protestors on the receiving end of pepper spray during Saturday's "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville Virginia . Herald photo by Jeff Porter

Scores of Hub residents who gathered on the Common last night to condemn the violence in Charlottesville, Va., say they’re prepared to return to the site next Saturday to protest against a local Free Speech Rally organized by the man behind yesterday’s white nationalist demonstration.

“We’re trying to mass mobilize” said a woman named Elise, a member of the Boston Feminists for Liberation, which organized last night’s vigil. “We hope to get as many people as we can. Boston is my home and they’re coming here. I want to defend my home.”

The Boston Free Speech Rally, set to begin on Boston Common at noon, is reportedly being organized by Jason Kessler, who led yesterday’s protest in Charlottesville.

As dozens of people chanted “bash the fasc” and “no Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA,” demonstrators said they’re gearing up for a confrontation next week.

“It’s clear that the far right feels emboldened right now,” said Khury Peterson-Smith, 35 of Dorchester. “I think that starts with the president. I feel confident that the majority of people in this city and this country oppose that kind of bigotry. I hope we can show that through our presence.”

Bonnie McBride of Boston said she worried that a large counterprotest would “give them more of a voice” but stressed she also “didn’t want to ignore it.”

“If it doesn’t affect you directly, it’s easy to turn your face,” she said. “It’s important for those of us who are white to stand up against this.”

Nick Serpe, 29, of Cambridge said he was shocked by what happened yesterday in Virginia.

“I think a lot of people weren’t planning on taking them seriously until what happened in Charlottesville,” he said. “We feel as a community we need to respond. I think everyone will be on high alert but I find comfort and strength in numbers from the people who are out against those demonstrators. We’re not afraid.”

A Framingham woman, who asked not to be named, agreed that solidarity is key.

“It’s really important to be proactive and get involved,” she said. “Things keep getting worse and we need to take a stand together. It’s obviously going to probably be huge and probably terrifying. But solidarity is important — I think we’ll be ready.”